Calling 18,000 Venezuelan workers to oilsands

Alberta college targets thousands of skilled oil workers laid off after labour strife in Venezuela

By Uyen Vu

02/28/2005|Canadian HR Reporter|Last Updated: 03/03/2005

In answer to the urgent call for skilled trades workers in Alberta, particularly in the oil and gas industry, recruiters are increasingly looking far afield to find job candidates with the right training and experience.

Among them is the Academy of Learning, which is eyeing the pool of 18,000 Venezuelan oil workers who were laid off from the state oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) in 2002.

The college, which has long recruited students from abroad for its training programs in business administration, health care and information technology, is now setting up a recruitment and training office in Caracas to help employers find foreign tradesworkers and make them job-ready.